Wednesday, May 20, 2009

NBC has announced their fall and midseason schedules (not just the shows but the timeslots). Pending more info on the new shows, it looks like I will be watching 1 hour per week - Monday at 8pm will be Heroes in the fall and Chuck at midseason. Contrary to an earlier report, NBC has dropped Medium. CBS picked it up though. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, Ausiello report on Medium & My Name is Earl

ABC announced their fall schedule and midseason shows too. They have the most new shows of any network, so the midseason schedule (where most of the shows I watch will be) is going to be determined by what works and what fails. Some of their new shows look promising though. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, NJ.com analysis, Futon Critic trailers for new shows

CBS announced their fall schedule (they don't have a separate midseason schedule). Major changes: Big Bang Theory moving to 9:30 on Monday and Medium will now be on CBS Fridays at 9pm (between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers). They don't have many new shows, but they have good casts. I'm sure more info will be available soon to help determine if they are watchable. Sources: Futon Critic, NJ.com, Futon Critic trailers for new shows

5/21 Update:CW fall schedule has now been announced. Reaper is gone (although apparently it might continue in syndication). The only new show even remotely tempting is Vampire Diaries, but I think it is going to be too soapy for me (it is trying way too hard to get the Twilight audience). Supernatural (the only show on their schedule I actually care about) is staying in the same horrid timeslot. Sources: Futon Critic schedule, NJ.com, pictures for new shows,

Monday, May 18, 2009

Chuck has been renewed! Unfortunately, it is for only 13 episodes with a reduced budget (so we'll probably see the recurring cast rotate in and out instead of in every episode), but I'm glad to see it will be coming back anyway. Sources: EW Ausiello Files, Futon Critic

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Onion is ceasing publication in SF and LA. It will still be available in print in some other cities, and online. I've only read the online version for several years, but this makes me sad and nostalgic.

Amazon revealed the new Kindle DX today with a larger gray-scale screen, pdf support, rotating screen, and more storage. It is designed for textbooks (publishers representing 60% of the market have deals with them) and newspapers. I know if this had been an option when I was buying incredibly heavy and expensive textbooks I would have jumped at it. Sources: New York Times Gadgetwise, Apple Insider, Engadget, CNet Digital Media, Wired Gadget Lab

However, as the new Kindle was announced, rumors are circling that Apple is going to be releasing an iPad (larger media tablet) soon. Sources: Wired, PC Magazine

Other recent e-book related stories I haven't linked yet:* Wired roundup of all the readers (from when Samsung announced Papyrus)* Sony-Google partnership making all out-of-copyright scanned books available for Sony Reader (reported by Wired & CNet)* Publishers making free books available on Scribd

Rumors are that Amazon is going to announce a large-format Kindle this week (mainly to allow reading newspapers & textbooks in a better scale). If this will help or hurt newspapers seems to be in disagreement. Sources: VentureBeat, Reuters, CNet.